


Plucking Petals

by wingyin



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Pining, we got Panicked gays, y e e t
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 18:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20120008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingyin/pseuds/wingyin
Summary: Like most things in Changbin's life, things start with a count. And like most counts, it starts with one.All it takes is one to send his (admittedly already chaotic) life into chaos.





	Plucking Petals

The wind blew softly through the park, rustling leaves and shaking the branches they grew from. Chan, Jisung, and Changbin settled themselves in the grass after tagging and hiding and seeking one another. And as the wind brushed past their faces, they tried to catch their breaths. Jisung lay stretched out on the grass, while Changbin focused on the swaying grass, tickling his fingers. When he looked up from the tall strands, he saw Chan looking around as if he had lost something.

"What are you looking for?"

"A flower," said Chan before he plucked a small daisy from the ground, "You know, a flower can tell you if someone really likes you. At least that's what my dad told me."

"Your dad talks to flowers?" Jisung shot up, his eyes wide. "That's so cool!"

"No way, plants don’t talk… Do they?" Changbin turned to Chan for an answer.

Chan chuckled at them, "No they don’t, but it's kinda like magic." Jisung's eyes fully lit up at that.

"Really? I wanna know how to do it!"

Chan huffed and slapped his palms onto his knees, "I guess I’ll have to teach you."

Changbin and Jisung sat in front of him, hoping to see exactly how it’s done. "So first off, you need to have someone in mind," the two younger nodded their heads in response. "Then you take the flower," the flower flopped back and forth in Chan's hand as he waved it like a little wand, "And you start picking the petals off. Like this." Changbin's eyes followed the petal as it spiraled down in the air.

"And then you say the _ magic words _." Changbin and Jisung kept staring at flower in Chan’s hand, waiting for him to say those words.

"Loves me," Another petal was thrown to the wind.

"Loves me not," Another petal joined the last.

The petals drifted together, and more and more fluttered in to join them. They glided towards the ground, making small loops as they went. Chan continued to pull the flower apart, letting the petals scatter across the grass. And before they knew it, there were three petals left.

Chan forced out his breath as long as he could. He would have to pull those petals sooner or later.

"Loves me." Two left.

"Loves me not." One.

"Loves me." Chan smiled to himself, but the other two were much quicker to celebrate.

Jisung threw himself on Chan and shook him just a little too forcefully. "Who likes you Chan?" 

"Yeah! Come on, tell us!" Changbin followed Jisung’s lead, causing the three of them to fall back onto the grass with a small thump. Laughter soon followed too, giggles rung out around them. If Changbin and Jisung’s laughter got louder that was no one’s business but theirs, since Chan tickled them in hopes of getting them off of him. And he was successful.

"That was just to show you how it works, I didn’t have anyone in mind." He chuckled, "Do you guys wanna try it?" Changbin caught Chan’s cheeks reddening, but he kept that little tidbit to himself.

"When _ I _ like someone I’ll try it for sure."

  
  


"—angbin. Changbin? Changbin!"

"Wha—" Changbin clears his throat and props his chin on his arm. "Yep, I’m listening, mhm, one hundred percent." Chan snorts.

Jisung pouts, “C’mon man, you missed the ending!" He sighs, "I’ll just have to retell the story at the _ next _ meeting.”

“Wait are you leaving? You can’t just blow off half the meeting!” 

“Uh. Yeah I can… I told you guys that I have a group project due next week.”

Chan chimes in, “He did tell us Changbin.”

“But these lyrics haven’t been _ finished _ in weeks!” Changbin rebutts. He slides down his chair grumbling before finally answering, “Fine! But we’re _ finishing _this next time.”

“Yeah, whatever, sure.” Jisung replies, checking his texts as he packs up his bag, “Felix is here.”

Changbin cocks an eyebrow, “Who’s Fe—”

“Hey cuz!” calls an unfamiliar voice. Chan waves towards the door, and the cute boy standing in the doorway waves back with a smile plastered on his face.

Changbin freezes.

He weighs his options and the way he sees it, he has 2.

One: run. There are plenty of escape routes available to him, like the window or even running right past the cute freckled boy. Anything is better than potentially embarrassing himself in front of the boy who’s made his heart skip a beat with just a smile and a wave.

Two: hide. Just avoid confrontation altogether. Maybe he can only see moving objects. If he holds still enough, maybe he won’t be noticed panicking in his seat. And with the way his legs feel like they’ve been liquified, he picks option two.

Chan asks, “You two are working together?” The two in question nod, throwing in a solid high five (after the first one missed) for good measure. “Make sure you guys actually do your project!” They sigh before responding with a drawn out “Fine,” from halfway out the door.

And as soon as the duo left, Changbin feels a strange lump in his throat. He clears his throat. But it’s still there. He clears his throat again. And again. And again.

Said lump jumps out of his throat and into his mouth, and Changbin finds that it’s weirdly flat and wide for a lump. Although it’s not exactly the cleanest thing to do, he pulls it out of his mouth and looks a little more carefully.

“You okay there buddy?” Chan’s voice makes him jolt in his seat. He quickly closes his hand and keeps it neatly in his lap.

“Yep! I’m good! No problem!” Chan looks unconvinced but leaves him be regardless.

“I’m gonna run Jisung’s notebook to him; he left it here by accident.” Changbin gives him a (shaky) thumbs up, and Chan runs out the door hoping to catch them before they left the building. “Watch my stuff!”

Left alone in the club room, Changbin tries to calm his nerves with deep breaths. By now his thoughts have already ran a marathon, almost two, and he knows exactly what is in his clenched hand. He almost wants to hold his hand face down and throw _ it _ straight into the trash, and pretend that _it_ doesn’t exist. He already has enough problems to avoid. But he knows that avoiding this one will only make things much, much, worse.

Like most things in Changbin's life, things start with a count. And like most counts, it starts with one.

All it takes is one to send his (admittedly chaotic) life into chaos.

He sucks in one last breath and reveals what he knew was there from the start: a single petal.

_ Loves me. _

**Author's Note:**

> hey so this is my first fic that im posting on here so uhhh yeah
> 
> ill try to keep posting consistent but i think we all know how that'll go so yeah
> 
> hope you enjoyed ^^


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